Circuit court, one of many titles for judicial tribunals, usually applied to trial courts of general jurisdiction but occasionally, as with the United States Court of Appeals, to intermediate appellate courts. The title originally referred to a court that made a circuit traveling through the geographic area assigned to it.

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any of 13 intermediate appellate courts within the United States federal judicial system, including 12 courts whose jurisdictions are geographically apportioned and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, whose jurisdiction is subject-oriented and nationwide.

...organization of the U.S. federal court system, which had been sketched only in general terms in the U.S. Constitution. The act established a three-part judiciary—made up of district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court—and outlined the structure and jurisdiction of each branch.